liam A. Houghton 
 
 Our Fathers' Altar 
 
 A 
 Centennial Sermon 
 
 Founding of the First 
 Christian Church 
 No r thb o r ou gh , Ms ? s . 
 
' A& 
 
 OUR FATHERS' ALTAR: 
 
 
 CENTENNIAL SERMON, 
 
 I'KEACUKD 
 
 JUNE 7, 1846, 
 
 IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 
 
 Founding of the First Christian Church 
 
 NOKTllMtOUGII, MASS. 
 
 BY WILLIAM A. HOUGHTON, 
 Pastor of the Evangelical Congregational Church in that placo. 
 
 WORCESTER: 
 
 PRINTED BY HENRY J . H W L A N I> 
 No. 171 Main Street. 
 
 
! 
 
 OUR FATHERS' ALTAR: 
 
 CENTENNIAL SEKMON, 
 
 PREACHED 
 
 JUNE 7, 1846, 
 
 IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 
 
 Founding of the First Christian Church 
 
 IN 
 
 NORTHBOROUGH, MASS. 
 
 T 
 
 BY WILLIAM A. HOUGHTON, 
 
 Pastor of the Evangelical Congregational Church in that place. 
 
 WORCESTER: 
 
 PRINTED BY HENRY J. HOWLAND, 
 
 No. 171 Main Street. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Northborough is highly favored in possessing its own topographical and narrative 
 history prepared with much labor, by Rev. Mr. Allen, who has thus laid the town 
 under great obligations for his interesting researches. It is not, however, a direct 
 object of those researches, to give a history of religious opinions in this place. 
 And it is in view of this field, unoccupied except incidentally, that the author of 
 the following discourse complies with the request for its publication. The history 
 of religious opinions is the history, in part, of men's thoughts, which is the most 
 important part of the history of the world. 
 
 The author, moreover, represents in this discourse, a portion of the inhabitants 
 of Northborough who feel called upon to put on record, for future generations, 
 such evidence as exists at this day, respecting the particular religious opinions of 
 the christian fathers of this town. Nor in so doing do we regard ourselves as ob- 
 trusive, or arrogant in our claims of " succession " as to the religious opinions of 
 those who founded a church in this place. We only declare with others, our 
 convictions of truth, and show as an historical fact, the views of those whom all 
 the living love to honor. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 JOSHUA 22 : 28. 
 Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord -which our Fathers made- 
 
 Many anticipate perfection in human society ; and the present 
 age is unparalleled in its supposed improvements on the religion of 
 the past. We, too, believe in human progress ; in the fullest, no- 
 blest idea of the phrase. But progress is a strange misnomer for 
 much that would take shelter under its wing. Not every change 
 is progress. Were it so, in respect to opinions, some could not be 
 far from the goal of perfection. But the progress of too many is 
 like the wanderings of the children of Israel in the desert. 
 
 In religion itself we hold to growth in knowledge, as well as 
 growth in grace. We cherish the noble idea of the venerable 
 Robinson, so strangely misapprehended by many. He did antici- 
 pate progress, even in the knowledge of God's word. But how 
 would he have received the idea that what were to him " the first 
 principles" of divine revelation, the very alphabet of the Bible, 
 would, by future " progress," be subverted ? He did expect, and 
 taught our pilgrim sires to expect, that "further light" would 
 dawn upon truths already known ; that new truths would yet 
 " break forth" from the scriptures. Progress in religion, is, as in 
 science, growth, increase, and not mere change. The very idea of 
 increased knowledge presupposes something as already known, as 
 settled truth. For if nothing be settled, then our present founda- 
 tions may give way to others, and these to others still, and thus 
 mere change were the destined order of human opinions. But if 
 there be one truth in the Bible which we may rest upon as estab- 
 lished beyond subversion, then there may be two such or more. 
 There are some, at least, so plainly revealed, that we expect no 
 future progress will ever subvert them. They are an anchor to 
 our souls in all the winds of doctrine which come and go like un- 
 certain wav.es of the sea. 
 
The bearing of these remarks, having reference not to men but to 
 principles, will be seen from the occasion of this discourse. One 
 hundred years have now elapsed since the founding of the first 
 Christian church in this town. A century ago this day, reckoning 
 time by weeks, our Fathers first met, as a church, in the sabbath 
 congregation. And we have thought it suitable to notice the 
 hundreth anniversary of that event, by such a discourse as the 
 present. Note A. 
 
 The text I use, by accommodation, to signify, 
 
 The essential oneness, in respect to doctrine, of the church which 
 our Fathers here founded, a hundred years ago, and the church 
 worshipping in this house to-day. 
 
 We maintain a oneness such as implies that there has been no 
 subversion, on our part, of any doctrine which our fathers held to 
 be essential to scriptural faith ; and that, to their faith, we have 
 added nothing, as being essential to salvation, which they did not 
 hold as such. 
 
 If this shall be made to appear, it will follow, that, in respect 
 to reKgious doctrines, we are not innovators in this town ; that 
 our altar is not built in opposition to the altar of our fathers, but 
 after the same pattern. 
 
 I proceed then to the proof, that the church which the fathers 
 of this town established was one with us in its faith ; and that we 
 may reply to any who say to u*, " what trespass is this that ye 
 have committed, in that you have builded you an altar, that ye 
 miodit rebel this day against the Lord," that to such we may re- 
 ply — "behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord which our fath- 
 ers made." 
 
 I. I adduce, the known history of the New England congrega- 
 tional churches, one hundred years ago. These were, up to the 
 middle of the last century, probably without exception, Calvinistic, 
 as to doctrine. 
 
 We are bound, therefore, in failure of specific evidence to the 
 contrary, to conclude that the church in this place was in full fel- 
 lowship with those which received it into christian communion. 
 Note B. 
 
 II. The " Covenant" of the original church in this town, used 
 through the whole ministry of its first pastor, a period of twenty- 
 one years, fully confirms the statement that our fathers were one 
 with us in doctrinal belief. 
 
They did not adopt a creed, in the technical use of that term . 
 There was not, at that day, the need of creeds, as such, which 
 now exists. The " Covenant" itself answered then, the same end 
 that creeds are designed to answer now. At that day, when men 
 covenanted to take the holy scriptures as the rule of their faith 
 they were understood by all as concurring with the church which 
 they joined in their belief of what the scriptures taught for doctrine. 
 But when it came to pass that it was known none the better what 
 a man's belief was, for his saying that he took the scriptures as his 
 rule of faith, then creeds came into use in our churches. Not to 
 take the place of the Bible, but to give a definite import to the 
 language and act of the one professing fellowship with the body. 
 To assume the obligations of the covenants of the New England 
 congregational churches one hundred years ago, and much later, 
 was virtually and really, to profess an assent to and a belief in the 
 known orthodox faith, technically so called. 
 
 But be this admitted or not, the position is strictly true as to 
 the covenant of our fathers. For with the avowed object of main- 
 taining "the true religion," they bound themselves by one article 
 of their covenant to educate their households in the doctrines of 
 " orthodox catechisms." If such a vow was not equivalent to a 
 declaration of faith in the doctrines of these catechisms as a sum- 
 maiy of scriptural faith, then neither language nor action has any 
 signiiicance. Thus was the covenant of our fathers, virtually, and 
 in its effect, really, as much a " creed" as are our " articles of 
 faith." 
 
 Whatever ambiguity may sometimes pertain to the words " ortho- 
 dox" and " orthodoxy," no question can be raised as to the mean- 
 ing of the phrase " orthodox catechisms," as it occurs in the cove- 
 enant referred to. For it is well known that the catechism used 
 in this town for more than a quarter of a century from the found- 
 ing of the church, was the Westminster Assembly's Catechism. 
 Note C. 
 
 In establishing then, the essential oneness of our faith with 
 theirs, we need only to show its agreement, in all essential particu- 
 lars, with the Westminster formulary. Before doing so, howev- 
 er, I remark, that all intelligent and candid minds are ever ready 
 to make a distinction between the substance of a doctrine and any 
 
 heory which may be adopted to explain it. I believe in the doc- 
 1* 
 
trine of universal gravitation. The substance of the doctrine is 
 that all bodies or particles of matter mutually tend towards each 
 other. This simple, alledged fact is the doctrine. But as to the 
 theory, by which I would account for the fact, I may believe that 
 the cause of gravitation is immediate, divine efficiency ; or I may be- 
 lieve in the existence of some natural law as the cause, which is 
 not the same thing as the immediate energy of the Almighty. 
 Now my theory in either case may be true or false, and I yet hold 
 the real doctrine of universal gravitation. 
 
 A religious doctrine also is an alledged fact. And in respect to 
 to a belief of the doctrinal facts which the faith of our fathers em- 
 braced, we claim to be one with them in such doctrines as they 
 held to be essential to scriptural faith. As to theories designed 
 to explain or account for these doctrinal facts, we may or may not 
 differ from them. We may have made progress or we may not 
 have done so ; at any rate, we believe there may be progress in 
 these respects, and yet some truths remain unchanged and un- 
 changable. 
 
 My limits allow only a specification of such doctrines as are the 
 most important. 
 
 1. Our fathers believed as we do, in the unity of God. 
 
 " One only, the living and true God," is the language in which 
 they taught their children. Such is our belief. God as a Being, is 
 one, and one only. Nor can charity itself well excuse such as 
 affirm that we believe differently. 
 
 2. The founders of the first church in this town were Trinita- 
 rians. They held that " the Father, the "Son and the Holy Ghost, 
 are one God, the same in substance, ecmal in power and glory."' 
 Thus they taught their children, and for this end, viz. that the 
 " true religion" might be maintained while they should live, and 
 among such as should live when they were dead. Nor was their 
 hope vain. God has remembered his covenant, and blessed their 
 children unto the third and fourth generations. And though they 
 are dead, the doctrine of the adorable Trinity is still maintained in 
 this place. Our faith embraces it. Our hearts love it. Our 
 souls adore the incomprehensible Jehovah thus manifested to his 
 creatures. And any "progress" which discards a doctrine so 
 plainly revealed in the Bible, simply because we cannot comprehend 
 such a mode of divine existence, is itself discarded by us. 
 
3. Our fathers believed as we do as to the divine and human 
 nature of Jesus Christ. 
 
 They believed that he " was and continues to be God and man 
 in two distinct natures and one person forever." In other words, 
 they held, with us that " the Word was God " and " the Word was 
 made flesh. "Great," indeed, " is the mystery of godliness ; God was 
 manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached 
 unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
 glory." But it was enough for our fathers, and is enough for us 
 that such a truth is revealed in the Bible. Note D. 
 
 4. Our fathers believed as we do in the entire sinfulness of all 
 men in an unregenerate state. 
 
 The substance of this doctrine is, that all men are, before con- 
 version, wholly destitute of moral goodness, and, in all moral char- 
 acter wholly and positively sinful. The theory by which the As- 
 sembly's Catechism would explain this doctrine, or account for the 
 existence of such a fact, is wholly seperate from the fact itself. 
 Nor were any specific explanations of this kind ever made essen- 
 tial to " orthodoxy." But the doctrinal fact has ever been re- 
 garded, by evangelical sects, as essential to scriptual faith. That 
 the catechism recognizes this fact none will deny. And in this, 
 which is the substance of the doctrine, we are one with our fathers. 
 
 5. We are one with our fathers in our belief of the doctrine of 
 the atonement. 
 
 The great doctrinal fact which their formulary of faith asserts 
 in respect to this doctrine, and in which all evangelical sects a^ree 
 is, that the sufferings and death of Christ are, by the appointment 
 of God, the procuring cause, the ground or reason, in view of 
 which he bestows pardon on the penitent and believing. Such is 
 the doctrinal fact. And this alone, is now, and was with our 
 fathers, essential to " orthodoxy " on this point. Different theories 
 have been adopted at different times to explain the manner in 
 which the atonement becomes effectual. But in no theory which 
 has prevailed among orthodox christians, so called, has the idea 
 ever been wanting, that sins are forgiven "for Christ's sake," or 
 on account of what Christ has suffered. Note E. 
 
 This doctrine of an expiatory sacrifice, or vicarious suffering on 
 the part of Christ, is directly opposed to that which makes " re- 
 pentance the ground of forgiveness." Eepentance is the condition 
 
s 
 
 forgiveness, but not the meritorious ground of it. Pardon is 
 promised on condition of repentance ; hence many mistake the 
 condition which is to be complied with by us, for the procuring 
 cause of pardon, which is the atonement of Christ. Repentance 
 is not an atonement. It is a renunciation and hatred of sin. But 
 the atonement sustains the divine law whilst its incurred penalty 
 is withheld from the transgressor, so that God can now " be just 
 and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus," which implies, 
 plainly, that without such a " propitiation " God would not be 
 just in justifying even the penitent. Thus has the atonement of 
 Christ not only a moral and persuasive power, inducing us to be 
 reconciled to God, to be " at-one " with him, but it has also a sac- 
 rificial efficacy, and becomes a proper " propitiation for sin." 
 
 Such is our faith. And such was the faith of the christian 
 fathers of this town. Nor in proof of this are we left to the for- 
 mulary of faith which they adopted. As their highest tribute to 
 the memory of their first pastor, whose ministry they had enjoyed 
 almost a quarter of a century, they inscribed on his monument, to 
 be read in succeeding generations, as'a testimony to his soundness 
 in the faith, and as evidence of the ground of their own hope, that 
 he was an " eminent preacher of the great Redemption by Jesus 
 Christ." That this language expressed to all, one hundred years 
 ago, the idea which we have stated concerning the atonement of 
 Christ, none can doubt. And on this doctrine especially did our 
 fathers found a church here, for the maintenance of " the true re- 
 ligion." They knew of " other foundations," though other " can 
 no man lay." But "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
 Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone," was theirs. 
 And through fidelity on their part, according to their covenant, in 
 household religion, has this same " corner stone " of our hopes for 
 eternity been preserved to us. And we trust that God is here 
 rearing a superstructure thereupon. Be this so, however, or not, 
 we know it will arise. 
 
 " Thou dying Lamb ; thy precious blood 
 
 Shall never lose its power, 
 Till all the ransomed church of God, 
 Are saved to sin no more." 
 
 In all ages hath such a redemption for sinners stood forth in the 
 oracles of God for the comfort and peace of the believer in Jesus. 
 All other foundations have, in numberless cases, failed the soul in 
 
the hour of trial and death. But this, never. Men may die calmly 
 in the belief of fatal error. But sometimes their hope will fail. 
 Not thus with any of all the thousands who by faith in Christ have 
 sought " redemption through his blood." Who, having thus received 
 him, ever renounced such a ground of hope, in death ! Here then 
 we proffer you, my hearers, by the word of God, and by the expe- 
 rience of all ages, a sure foundation, We commend it to you, not 
 because our fathers received it ; not because the christian church 
 has, in all ages received it, but because God hath so set the Savior 
 forth " to be a propitiation for the remission of sins." 
 
 My impenitent friend, what a fitness is there for your necessi- 
 ties, in " the Lamb of God that takethaway the sins of the world.' 
 True, men may abuse even the grace of the gospel. Some do sin 
 because grace abounds. So it would be in this apostate world, on 
 any scheme of divine compassion. Let not therefore " the glorious 
 gospel of the blessed God " become to you " a savor of death unto 
 death." Lost you certainly are, without cordial faith in the Savior. 
 " He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of 
 God abideth on him." Such is the declaration of the compassion- 
 ate Redeemer. Look unto him then in faith, with repentance to- 
 wards God, and be ye saved. You need such a Savior. Your 
 sins, unprevented by divine interference, would prostrate that holy 
 law on which hangs the happiness of earth and heaven. That 
 law, ''just and good," knows not of forgiveness but through a 
 Savior. But in him there is pardon for the chief of sinners. 
 You need not reap in the world to come the appropriate fruit of 
 your sins. There is a deliverer. There is deliverance. " Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God." His blood " cleanseth from all sin.'' 
 Wait not till death, the judgment and eternity shall awaken your 
 sluggish soul too late, to a realizing sense of what it is to have 
 " counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing." Turn now 
 by "repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ," and peace of soul shall be yours on earth : and in 
 heaven, rest with all the pious dead, in the presence of God and 
 the Lamb. 
 
 III. Another source of evidence that the church which our 
 fathers here established was of the same specific faith which we 
 hold, is the well authenticated views of their first minister. 
 
 Though we had no reason for doubts respecting the particular, 
 
10 
 
 faith of the Rev. John Martyn, first minister of Northborough,— 
 so explicit is traditionary testimony and the inscription on his mon- 
 ument, — yet we feared that specific evidence, in his own name, as 
 to his jmrticular doctrinal faith, could not be obtained. But I 
 have the satisfaction and pleasure of exhibiting to you to-day, the 
 Rev. Mr. Martyn's old " study Bible." Venerable relic of a de- 
 voted servant of its great Author. Over it, no doubt, have been 
 offered up many prayers and supplications, with strong crying and 
 tears, that God would remember his promise, and bless, to the latest 
 Generations, the seed of his children who here entered into cove- 
 nant with him and one another, for the maintenance of the truth 
 as it is in Jesus. On the blank leaves of this Bible, on the mar- 
 gins, and between the lines are found in Mr. Martyn's own elegant 
 hand, annotations, remarks and inferences, which evince most 
 clearly his particular religious sentiments, and exhibit attainments 
 in sacred literature and biblical learning, most honorable to the 
 ministry of New England one hundred years ago. From the ev- 
 idence which appears in his bible, we are constrained to believe 
 that it was not in mere compliment that his people inscribed upon 
 his monument, that he was an " eminent " preacher of the great 
 Redemption. Note F. 
 
 But my design is to exhibit Mr. Martyn's specific faith. It is 
 necessary, however, in order to give to his testimony its full force 
 upon the opposing views which now exist, to call to mind the re- 
 ligious history of his own times. 
 
 " About the year 1734," says President Edwards, " began the 
 great noise that was in this part of the country, about Arminian- 
 ism." Arminianism, not now represented by any one denomina- 
 tion, denied particularly what are termed " the doctrines of grace." 
 The great metaphysical error which President Edwards publicly 
 controverted in Mr. Martyn's day, was the Arminian view of 
 " moral liberty," or such a freedom of the human will, as leaves all 
 volitions contingent or uncertain. Mr. Martyn understood the 
 subject matter of this controversy. On a blank leaf in his bible, 
 he says, " the disputes in Holland between the Calvinists and Ar- 
 minians were upon these five points, viz. Election, Redemption, 
 Original sin, Effectual grace, and Perseverance." In another place 
 he says, " against the doctrine of free will as taught by the Armi- 
 nians, N. B. the following passages of scripture, for whilst they 
 
11 
 
 are acknowledged to be canonical they will forever fly in the face 
 of such pernicious doctrines ; viz. Gen. 6 : 5. Jer. 17 : 9. Jn. 
 3: 6. 6: 24. 15: 5. Rom. 9 : 16. 1 Cor. 15: 10. 2 Cor. 
 3 : 5." 
 
 Mr. Martyn's ministry was from 1746 to 17G7, in the beginning 
 of the second century of New England ecclesiastical history, and 
 including the very period of the great Arminian controversy. 
 Many influences had long been preparing the churches for the de- 
 velop\ments that were made in his day. One which began to op- 
 erate early in their history, was the restriction by the old colony 
 laws, of the right of suffrage, to members of the church. Men 
 were thus influenced by political motives to profess religion. Anoth- 
 er instrument of calamitous influence, was the old " half way cov- 
 enant." Those who had been baptized in infancy, were at a suit- 
 able age, if of a correct outward life, called upon to u own the cov- 
 enant." This did not admit them to the Lord's Supper, but en- 
 titled their children to baptism, whilst they themselves were un- 
 derstood to have some indefinite relation to the church. And in 
 this " half way " profession of religion, men rested. Few came 
 into full communion. And this result led to another expedient. 
 Men confessedly unconverted, were admitted to the sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper. The ordinance was regarded, in their case, 
 as " a means of regeneration." Thousands came to the table of 
 Christ. But Zion was not enlarged. Her wasting was increased. 
 Her watchmen saw it. And some of them lifted up their voice. 
 Cotton Mather, ever to be had in grateful remembrance in the 
 churches of New England, declared, in view of some of these 
 measures, and their result, that if things should go on thus for for- 
 ty years, churches would be gathered out of churches. He under- 
 stood human nature, and the tendency of principles. He was mis- 
 taken in this case only as to the time when these things should be. 
 Such were some of the influences which were about coming to 
 a crisis, when a branch of Christ's church was established in this 
 town. They were the remote causes of the errors which followed, 
 But an immediate occasion of the developement of the errors for 
 which the churches had been so long preparing, and which ap- 
 peared in Mr. Martyn's dav, was the great revivals that occured 
 under the preaching of Whitfield and Edwards. For a long time 
 ^h ere had been only occasional " awakenings." The Holy Spirit 
 
12 
 
 seemed to be very generally withdrawn. But the ten years pro- 
 ceeding Mr. Martyn's ministry, were made memorable by unusual 
 visitations of divine grace, which were like the candle of the Lord 
 amidst his churches. Nothing reveals human hearts like revivals 
 of religion. The all-searching Spirit of God is then specially 
 present. And satan too, feeling then that his time is short as to 
 many whom he has led captive at his will, comes down upon the 
 earth, " having great wrath." He enrages the wicked, tempts 
 christians to distrust the works of the Spirit ; and some who^ould 
 do God service, he hurries on to monstrous extravagances. Such 
 excresences attached themselves to the revivals just mentioned. 
 And yet after all reasonable allowances, it is estimated that in 
 one of them, there were, in the space of two years, more than 
 thirty thousand hopeful conversions in New England alone. To 
 human appearance these revivals were the salvation of our Amer- 
 ican Zion. All evangelical denominations shared in their glori- 
 ous result. Note G. 
 
 Such were the revivals. But the extravagances which attended 
 them afforded a pretext to those who desiied one, for an opposi- 
 tion to the revivals themselves. And too many who would not 
 knowingly have opposed any work of divine grace, failed to dis- 
 tinguish between the operations of the Spirit and mere animal ex- 
 citements. Because tares grew among the wheat, they were 
 slow to acknowledge God as the author of the harvest. Others 
 also had come into the church in its great declension, who, it is 
 to be feared, not only never "saw it on this wise," but who had 
 never felt in their own souls, the power of God. The revivals 
 came, and the thoughts of many hearts were revealed. "Armin- 
 ianism " became a general designation, not only for the views 
 which rejected particularly " the doctrines of grace," so called, 
 but for various forms of heterodoxy. The denial of the entire 
 sinfulness of mankind in their natural state, of the necessity of 
 the Spirit's influence in conversion, of Christ's supreme divinity, 
 of the vicarious nature of the atonement, prevailed more or less 
 extensively. These various doctrines had not then been resolved 
 into any definite system. Note H. 
 
 Such was the state of religious opinions in New England, Avhen 
 Mr. Martyn was called to a defence of the gospel. And knowing 
 the history of that day, we may judge more intelligently of they 
 testimony which follows. 
 
13 
 
 Mr. Martyn had no intention, of course, of expressing bis creed 
 on the margins of his Bible. Yet on most of the important doc- 
 trines of religion we find here his belief unequivocally expressed. 
 
 1. As to the Scriptures. Between the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, Mr. Martyn writes, " N. B. Christianity is no innovation, 
 but a (perfection of the old religion ; — for in the old, there is a 
 close comprehension of the new, and in the new an open discovery 
 of the old." With the first minister of Northborough, " the Bible," 
 and "the Word of God," were phrases of one and the same signi- 
 fication. With him the Bible was not only " a good book," " an 
 imcomparable book," " the book," par excellence ; it was the very 
 word of Jehovah. Nor was the Old Testament, in his esteem, a 
 collection of Hebrew Literature, as such ; it was not merely a 
 " record of the Jewish religion," it was the Word of God which the 
 Savior commanded men to search as testifying of himself. It was 
 the Scriptures of truth which the noble Bereans searched for the 
 proof of Christianity itself. And so long as Christ's own words rec- 
 ognize, by name, "Moses," and " the prophets and the Psalms," as 
 the very word of God, so long shall we prefer the faith of the christ- 
 ian fathers of this town, to any " progress" that makes the Bible 
 anything less than the divinely inspired word of the living God. 
 
 2. As to the Ti'inity of the Godhead, Mr. Martin's views are 
 explicit. 
 
 On Math. 28 : 19, " Baptising them in the name of the Father, of 
 the Son and of the Holy Ghost," he remarks thus, " name and not 
 names, to show the equality of the three Persons." On 1 Jn. 5 : 7. 
 " There are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the 
 Word and the Holy Ghost," he says, " in Essence, in Being and 
 in Deity." Again, on the same, " this verse being quoted verba- 
 tim, by St. Cyprian who lived in the middle of the third century, 
 i3 a plain demonstration that it was not inserted by Athanasius 
 who flourished in the fourth century." 
 
 To the foregoing I add, as evidence in point, that Mr. Martyn 
 has copied in his Bible, the Athanasian creed, the body of which is 
 a rigid defence of the doctrine of the Trinity ; and he accompanies 
 it with the following remark, viz : " this creed was received 
 through almost all the western churches and bears the name of 
 Athanasian, because it contains the orthodox faith, which went by 
 that name in contradistinction of the rest which were under their 
 2 
 
14 
 
 heads, as Arians, Apollinarians, &c." Arians denied Christ's su- 
 preme divinity ; Apollinarians denied his humanity, and Nestori- 
 ans were understood as denying the real union of the divine and 
 human natures in the person of Jesus Christ. " The orthodox 
 faith" included, in Mr. Martyn's view, the doctrine of the Trinity. 
 
 3. Mr. Martyn held the doctrine of the Supreme divinity and 
 proper humanity of Jesus Christ. 
 
 To the genealogy of Christ as given by Luke, he adds, " Hence 
 the humanity and divinity of our Savior, is proved." 
 
 The following remarks accompany the following passages. Jn. 
 8 : 58, " Before Abraham was, I am." " Hence the union of two 
 natures in Jesus Christ is proved." Jn. 2 : 24, " He knew all 
 men." " Hence his Godhead is proved." Rev. 20 : 6, " They 
 shall be priests of God and of Christ." " Hence his Divinity is 
 proved." Heb. 1 : 3, "Upholding all things by the word of his 
 power." " Hence his Eetmity" He who upholds all things 
 must surely have existed before the things which he upholds. And 
 we may add, must also be Almighty. Mark 2: 11, "I say unto 
 thee arise," &c. " Hence he is God as well as man." Mark 13 : 32, 
 " Of that day knoweth no man — neither the Son, but the Father." 
 "That is, the Messiah, not the second person" (of the Trinity.) 
 Mat. 4: 3, " If thou be the Son of God command that these stones 
 be made bread." " By thy own absolute power as God. Hence 
 the Devil understood by the name of the Son of God, the same as 
 the true and living God." Jn. 10 : 30, •' I and my Father are 
 one." " Not in purpose only but in reality and sameness, as the 
 Jews understood him, else they would not undertake to stone him, 
 for so was their faith at that time." 
 
 1 Jn. 5 : 20, *< This is the true God and Eternal life." Here 
 Mr. Martyn makes a marginal reference to Isaiah 44 : 6. " Thus 
 saith the Lord — I am the first, I am the last, and, besides me there 
 is no God." He understood, most evidently, that, if Isaiah affirmed 
 of Jehovah that he was the only God, and John affirmed of Christ 
 that he was the true God, then Christ and the Father were one be- 
 ing, whether men could understand or not how it should be so. 
 In another place he remarks, " let Christian Divines be content to 
 explain what they understand ; to adore what they understand not ; 
 and to leave in mystery all that Christ and his apostles have left 
 80." On Isa. 9:6, " Unto us a child is born — and his name 
 
15 
 
 shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God," &c. 
 he says ; « to be born a child and to be the mighty God is abso- 
 lutely impossible and contrary in itself, except we acknowledge 
 Christ's hypostatical union, that he is God as well as man." By 
 hypostatical union he means the real union of the divine and human 
 natures in the person of Jesus Christ. Again, Iio. 9:5," Of 
 whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God 
 blessed forever." On the margin of the passage Mr. Martyn has 
 simply, but significantly written " N. B." We say amen ; let all 
 mark it well ; " Christ over all, God blessed forever." 
 
 Again, Jn. 20 : 28. " Thomas saith unto him, ray Lord and 
 my God." On this he says " no man can rightly receive the Me- 
 diator as Lord, if he does not acknowledge him as God." Again, 
 1 Jn. 5 : 20, before referred to, " this is the true God and eternal 
 life," here we find the following remarks ; " His being the true God is 
 absolutely necessary to his having eternal life in himself originally, 
 and the text may be called the death of Arianism and Socinianism ; 
 and the connexion of the next verse, to both Arians and Socini- 
 ans and all those who deny the things contained in the 20th verse." 
 
 4. Of the Holy Spirit. First, of its personality in distinction from 
 an " influence." Acts 13:2. " The Holy Ghost said separate me 
 Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.'' 
 To this Mr. Martyn subjoins, " me, I, ergo " (therefore) "he is a 
 person. u Again, Rev. 8 : 27. He that searcheth the heart knoweth 
 what is the mind of the spirit." " Mind," says Martyn, " ergo he 
 is a person." 
 
 Secondly, as to the office of the Holy Spirit. Jn. 3 : G, " That 
 which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." Mr. Martyn adds, " the 
 Holy Spirit is the great agent which worketh this change" (the 
 new birth) " in men and none else." 
 
 5. Mr. Martyn held the doctrine of a vicarious atonement. 
 
 In view of Acts 20 : 28, " to feed the church of God which he 
 hath purchased with his own blood ;" he says, " hence is proved a 
 true satisfaction and not a moral one, as Socinians say." The So- 
 cinian idea of the atonement is, that it consists in the moral pow- 
 er of Christ's death as being adapted and designed to lead us to 
 repentance. Mr. Martyn believed, of course, in such an influence, 
 but this was not, in his view, the atonement. By a " true satis- 
 faction," he evidently means such an influence as satisfies, sustains 
 
1G 
 
 or upholds the law of God, whilst yet He bestows pardon on the 
 penitent transgressor. Again, Luke 22 : 19. " This do in remem- 
 brance of me." On this passage we find the following note ; " i. e. 
 acknowledging that salvation which is through me, both as I am 
 the atonement for sin and a principle of life to all those that lay 
 hold of me by faith. W. Law 387." In another place is the 
 following, " that Christ has fullness of merit of infinite value to 
 purchase reconciliation and acceptance both of our person and ser- 
 vices, together with an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of 
 Heaven, see Dan. 9 : 24. Jn. 17: 2. Hebs. 9 : 12. 10: 14. 
 Eph. 5: 12. Ro. 3: 24. 5: 9." 
 
 6. Mr. Martyn held, as we do, the doctrinal fact of the entire 
 sinfulness of all men in an unregenerate state. 
 
 From his remarks, it is probable that he adopted the prevalent 
 theory of that day respecting the manner in which such a result 
 comes to pass. But this theory, as we have before illustrated, is 
 no part of the doctrinal fact. 
 
 On Ps. 51 : 5, " Behold I was shapen in iniquity," &c. and 
 Job 14 : 4, " Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean," he 
 remarks thus ; " hence original sin in infants is proved." Jas. 2 : 
 10, " Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one 
 point is guilty of all ;" to this he adds, " in Adam." Hebs. 9 : 22, 
 "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission;" to this he 
 adds, " for original and actual sins." Again, he interlines 1 Jn. 
 
 1 : 8 and 10, so as to read thus : " if we say we have no (' orig- 
 inal') sin, we deceive ourselves." "If we say we have not sin- 
 ned (' actually') we make him a liar." None will say, we think, 
 that Mr. Martyn held less than the entire sinfulness of all men in 
 an unregenerate state. 
 
 7. He held the Calvinistic view of the divine purposes. On 
 
 2 Thes. 2 : 13, he says, " hence God's decrees are both of the 
 means and the end." In another place he says, " the doctrine of 
 predestination is proved, that we should be holy." 
 
 8. He believed in the doctrine of the saints perseverance. 
 
 In one place he says, " here perseverance is proved. Blessed 
 news." And the note last recorded in his Bible is this, " the bless- 
 ed and comforting doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is 
 plainly promised in the word of God to all those happy ones who 
 have passed from death unto life, and they can never perish." 
 
9. Mr. Martyn recognizes in several instances the doctrines of 
 a future judgment and eternal rewards and punishment. 
 
 In view of the sublime and awful revelation of Jesus Christ as 
 recorded in the 25th chapter of Matthew's gospel, he says, " Here 
 our Savior is not considered as a Redeemer, an High Priest, as 
 glorifying the riches of his love and mercy, or as justifying the 
 ungodly ; no, but as a Judge — proceeding according to the rules of 
 distributive and remunerative justice." On Mark 3: 29, "He 
 that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgive- 
 ness, but is in danger of eternal damnation," he remarks ;. " is sub- 
 ject of." 
 
 Without any further specification, I add one more quotation, 
 which evinces not only Mr. Martyn's " orthodoxy," but also his 
 strict Calvinism. It follows Ro. 8 : 29, SO, " For whom he did fore- 
 know he also did predestinate," &c. " Hence," says Mr. Martyn, 
 "absolute election, particular redemption, effectual calling, free jus- 
 tification, and eternal glorification is pi'oved." Such was the 
 faith of the first minister of Northborough, whom his much afflicted 
 people in his death, style " an eminent preacher of the great Re- 
 demption by Jesus Christ." Nor was his faith drawn from Cal- 
 vin, or Augustine, or any other human authority. We find it here 
 as deductions of his own, from the Word of God itself. And yet it 
 is Calvinism, so called, not because Mr. Martyn followed Calvin, 
 but because Calvin adhered to the Bible in its great doctrinal 
 facts, and, as it happened, had his name attached to that system 
 of faith which so great a portion of the christian world receive as 
 being contained in the word of God. 
 
 We have thus shown what was the religious faith of the church 
 first established in this town, and the faith of its first Pastor. We 
 have shown also wherein we are one with them in the most im- 
 portant doctrines of the Bible. And by the maintenance of such 
 doctrines, while they should live, did they hope that " the true re- 
 ligion " would be maintained here in succeeding generations . 
 They are dead. We live after them. And let us bless the cove- 
 nant faithfulness of our Father's God, who has not suffered these 
 glorious doctrines of grace to become extinct in this community. 
 Nor shall they, God helping us, die in our hands. They are our 
 hope, our peace, our rejoicing. For the praise and glory of God's 
 grace ; for the salvation of souls for whom Christ died, we will 
 
not, my brethren, cease to uphold and proclaim this " glorious 
 gospel of the blessed God ;" these doctrines of hope for lost men. 
 Nor stand we alone in their support and defence. Before this 
 church was formed, another band of believers in the same great 
 truths, differing from us only in the form of an external rite, raised 
 here the attracting standard of the cross, and unfurled their ban- 
 ners inscribed with the glorious doctrines of the Bible and the 
 Reformation. Our joy shall be in their prosperity, and in their 
 adversity our prayer. 
 
 Do any ask why we make our altar after the pattern of that 
 which our fathers made ? We answer, not because they made 
 their altar thus. We delight in following them only so far as they 
 followed the Bible. Far from us, however, to reject a doctrine 
 because it is old. And as far be it from us to receive it for this 
 reason. But there is nothing repugnant to us in receiving as the 
 unchanging truth of God, old doctrines, which have sustained 
 Apostles, Prophets, Patriarchs, and the faithful of all ages, by 
 their own divine energy. Believing therefore, that our fathers 
 made their altar after the pattern which the Lord commanded, 
 we rejoice to walk, so far, in their steps. 
 
 And now there comes to us all, a voice from the past ; from the 
 dead, who yet speak. Fathers, hear you not this day the voice 
 of your own godly sires ; and in your remembrance of them forget 
 you their testimony to the piety and godliness of their fathers who 
 reared here an altar to the living God ? Let the remembrance of 
 such an ancestry inspire your own hearts with renewed zeal for 
 the honor of your fathers' God. A few days more are yet allot- 
 ted you. May their God be yours ; and may your God be ours. 
 Another century and you, fathers and mothers in Israel, will be to 
 other generations, as those who raised the gospel banners in this 
 town are to us. And 0, may your names be had here in ever- 
 lasting remembrance. May your memory be as precious to the 
 bearers of the gospel standand then, as is the memory of those 
 who first covenanted together here for the maintenance of the truth 
 as it is in Jesus. 
 
 Brethren, now in the midst of life, what does the voice of the 
 past century demand of us ? Not merely to cherish the memory 
 of our sires and a pious ancestry. The voice of three generations, 
 summoned, within one short century, from the places which we 
 
19 
 
 now occupy to their final account, bids us awake for the solemn 
 duties of life. 
 
 " How swift the torrent rolls, 
 
 That bears us to the sea ; 
 The tide which hurries thoughtless souls 
 To vast eternity." 
 
 "Our fathers, where are they?" Does the turf cover them ? 
 
 They are on high. Palms adorn their hands, and crowns begird 
 
 their brows. 
 
 " I ask them whence their victory came ! 
 
 They, with united breath, 
 Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb, 
 Their victory to his death." 
 
 On us, brethren, should come the burden of the day. Remem- 
 ber the curse of those who " came not up to the help of the Lord." 
 Remember the reward of the faithful. Another hundred years, 
 and eternal centuries will be ours, in which we shall rejoice in the 
 presence of God, or mourn in banishment from " the glory of his 
 power." 
 
 Young men, descendants of the founders of a christian church in 
 this place, I charge you this day, by our fathers labors, and toils, 
 and prayers in your behalf, to stand in your lot, as they stood in 
 theirs. On you, in the providence of God, rest the momentous 
 interests of Christ's kingdom in this place. Put away vain pur- 
 suits, and " seek first the kingdom of God and his righteouness," 
 that when he shall appear, he may assign you a portion with all 
 the faithful of ages past, and of generations yet unborn. 
 
 Fathers, brethren and friends, I seem to behold, through the 
 closing vista of the past century, that man of God standing before 
 his flock and addressing them for the first time, as their pastor and 
 guide. He looked forward to what should result from the union 
 of that little company of believers. His faith and theirs beheld 
 in their own little band, the germ of that vine which is yet to 
 overshadow this fair heritage. And from that man of God, I seem 
 to have, this day, a charge to contend earnestly for the faith once 
 delivered to the saints. And from pastor and people, comes to us 
 all the injunction to keep in trust what God has committed unto us j 
 to maintain in our families while we live, and to transmit to suc- 
 ceeding generations, the doctrines which were their support in life, 
 
20 
 
 their hope in death. To our hands, has the gospel, as they re- 
 ceived it, been intrusted. And for its maintenance, will the great 
 head of the church hold us accountable. So let us live, so let us 
 labor, that we may meet, irreproachably, in the judgment, our 
 children, our fathers, our Savior and our God. Amen. 
 
21 
 
 Note A. Page 4. 
 
 The original church in Northborough, was organized May 21st, 0. S. 1746. On 
 the same day Rev. John Martyn was ordained as its Pastor, in which office he 
 died April 30th, 1767. Rev. Peter Whitney succeeded him Nov. 4th of the same 
 year. He died Feb. 29th, 1816. Rev. Jos. Allen, his successor, was ordained on 
 the 30th of the following October. The Baptist Church in Northborough was 
 formed July 2d, 1827. 
 
 In 1832, April 12th, the Evangelical congregational church, was organized. Its 
 first minister, Rev. Samuel A. Fay, was ordained on the 17th of the following Oct. 
 at which time also the house of worship was dedicated. Mr. Fay was dismissed, 
 at his own request, Oct. 19th, 1836. The same day Rev. Daniel H. Emerson was 
 ordained as his successor. Mr. Emerson also as ked a dismission which was grant- 
 ed April 22d, 1840. Between the dismission of Mr. Emerson and the ordination of 
 the present incumbent, July 5th, 1843, the pulpit was supplied two years and more 
 by Rev. Joshua Bates, D. D. 
 
 Note B. Page 4. 
 
 The following is taken from the Christian Examiner for May 1846, p. 289 : As 
 an " incontrovertible canon of historical criticism," viz. " the silence of contempo- 
 rary historians, themselves being actors in the scenes which they describe,— con- 
 cerning any important fact, is strong presumptive proof against it." Is not the 
 same true respecting the " silence" of tradition concerning any important fact, 
 when tradition exists respecting other " important facts" of the same times ? 
 Tradition is positive in this place respecting the " orthodoxy" of the original church. 
 But respecting any difference between it and other Calvinistic churches, all is 
 "silence." 
 
 Note C. Page 5. 
 
 Perhaps no denomination ought to appropriate such terms as " orthodox" and 
 " orthodoxy" to its own faith exclusively. But in settling the meaning of terms 
 and phrases, the simple question is, what is their import by the law of " usage." 
 The following is good authority. " It is a most clear, undeniable and universal 
 rule, that the signification of terms must be decided in every country according 
 to the known and general acceptation of them in the several countries where they 
 are used." (Report of the board of overseers of Harvard College, 1727. Quincy's 
 History, vol. I. 566.) It is equally "clear" that the same " rule" applies to " the 
 signification of terms" in different periods, in the same country. We ask then, 
 what, by this rule, must have been the meaning of " orthodoxy" in New England 
 one hundred years ago, and in the very outbreak of " Arminianism V" 
 
 The following is an article in the first church covenant of our Fathers. " We 
 oblige ourselves to bring up our children and servants in the knowledge and fear 
 of God, according to his holy institutions and according to our best abilities, and 
 in special, by the use of orthodox catechisms, that so the true religion may be 
 maintained in our families while we live and among such as shall live when we are 
 dead." And in " a historical sketch of the progress of evangelical sentiments in 
 Northborough" prepared by the first Pastor of the evangelical congregational church, 
 nnder the inspection of his venerable grandfather, Nahum Fay, Esq. who acted as 
 clerk of the first church, from the death of Rev. Mr. Whitney, till the settlement 
 of his successor, I find the first covenant entire, recorded as having been used 
 3 
 
22 
 
 through the. whole ministry of Rev. Mr. Martyn. Mr. Whitney's settlement 13 
 then recorded and the covenant copied, which, the sketch says, "was used under 
 his ministry." The substitution which is made in this second covenant for the 
 article which we have copied from the first, may throw some lighton the fact refer- 
 red to by Rev. Mr. Allen, (centennial discourse, appendix p. 49), that in the original 
 covenant, in his possession, the article prescribing the use of orthodox catechisms, 
 " is now stricken out by a mark of the pen." The article in the second covenant 
 which answers to the one we have copied from the first, is this ; " you also engage 
 to bring up such as may be placed under your care, in the knowledge and fear of 
 God, that the true religion may he maintained while you live and by them who 
 shall live after you. And to these ends you promise to keep up the daily worship 
 of God in your house." For family worship in the latter, substitute the use of or- 
 thodox catechisms, and the two articles are identical. We see no need of queries. 
 In all philosophical inquiries for the existence of given facts, "one adequate cause" 
 is deemed sufficient. 
 
 It may be added in this connection that churches were not always necessitated 
 to use " orthodox catechisms" or none. There was published, in Xew Hampshire, 
 soon after the organization of the original church in this place, an edition of the 
 Assembly's Catechism from which the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism were ex- 
 ■piniised. But the old Catechisms yet found in Northborough are not of the " im- 
 proved edition." 
 
 Note D. Page 7. 
 
 Charity itself is sometimes greatly taxed by an ambiguous profession, on the 
 part of some, of a belief in "the divinity of Christ," whilst in fact they utterly de- 
 ny what that phrase implies by common usage. To say to one that I believe in 
 the divinity of Christ, when I believe Christ to be divine only in the sense of be- 
 ing sent on a divine mission, is as if, to one asking me what my belief is as to the 
 mode of God's existence, I should say, I am a Unitarian. I am such in the sense 
 of believing in God's essential unity. But common usage of the language forbids 
 such an application of terms by me, when I am not a unitarian in the common ac- 
 ceptation of the word. When usage has assigned to terms a particular meaning, 
 no man has a moral right to use them in another sense without explanation. 
 
 These remarks apply not only to the subject of Christ's divinity, but to the use 
 of the words atonement, regeneration and others. 
 
 Note E. Page 7. 
 
 It is alleged of the doctrine of the atonement that it has undergone essential 
 changes in its history. An article appeared in a recent number of the Christian 
 Examiner, in which the history of this doctrine is divided into three periods ; first, 
 "the mythic period," extending from an early point of christian antiquity to the 
 eleventh century, in which " the prevailing idea was of a controversy between 
 Christ and the devil for the souls of men, and the work of Christ was, mainly to 
 redeem men from the power of the devil, by paying the ransom due to him on ac- 
 count of their sins." This is confessedly the most objectionable theory. But 
 gross as the idea is, we ask if, by the theory, deliverance from the consequences 
 of sin was not granted, by God, in view of what Christ had done ; in view of the 
 ransom which he paid ? That is, was not man saved " through Christ," or his 
 sufferings as the procuring cause, and not by repentance as the ground of salva- 
 
2:* 
 
 tion? If so, here is the real idea of atonement; much obscured by the crude 
 philosophy of a dark age we admit, but there is in it the great idea that Christ died 
 as " a propitiation for our sins." 
 
 The second it is said, is "the scholastic period, extending from the eleventh 
 century to the Reformation." The idea of the atonement in this period was, that 
 Christ suffered and died "to satisfy the justice of God, by paying the debt legallj 
 incurred by the sinner." If then Christ paid the debt, were not men, by this the- 
 ory, also forgiven, " for Christ's sake," and not on account of their repentance as 
 the procuring cause ? 
 
 " The third period" extending from the Reformation to the present time, repre- 
 sents the atonement as having special relation to " the government of God." This 
 is the idea which we have stated in the body of the discourse. 
 
 We ask now, if in any of these theories, the idea is wanting that the atonement 
 of Christ is such as to be the meritorious ground, or reason in view of which God 
 remits the incurred penalty of his law ? If these several theories cover the whole 
 history of the church, when has it not been the doctrine of the atonement, that 
 men are forgiven "for Christ's sake," or "through Christ" as the procuring cause, 
 by his own sufferings and death, of human salvation ? When therefore the auth- 
 or says, " throughout the whole of this time we see that the doctrine is in progress, 
 the remark has pertinency only to the theories and not to the substance of the 
 doctrine, except as by more rational theories the real doctrine which is in them 
 all becomes more intelligible and more glorious in all its relations. And the very 
 fact that the great essential idea of a vicarious atonement has pervaded the crud- 
 est theories of the darkest ages of the christian church as well as the most enlight- 
 ened, shows how clearly such an atonement is revealed in the Bible and how hap- 
 pily it is adapted^' the known wants of a lost world. 
 
 Note F. Page 10. 
 
 The following is Mr. Martyn' s monumental inscription. "Under this sepul- 
 chral stone lies interred, in Christian hope of a blessed resurrection, what was 
 mortal of the Reverend John Martyn, A. M., the late worthy Pastor of this flock, 
 son of the late Captain Edward Martyn of Boston. Educated at Harvard College, 
 Cambridge. Was ordained in this place May 21st, 1740, approved himself an as- 
 siduous, orthodox, eminent preacher of the great redemption by Jesus Christ. 
 After a few days illness, to the inexpressible grief of his family, dock, and friends, 
 expired April 30th, 1707, aged sixty-one." 
 
 "Sivitam fide Christi Egimus Sanctam Si quid praeclare gessimus, hoc sit 
 nostri monumentum." 
 
 The Old Bible is now in the possession of Mrs. Harriet Endicott of Sterling, 
 wife of Captain Endicott and daughter of John Monis Martyn, who was grandson 
 of Rev. John Martyn. 
 
 We have in hand also a manuscript sermon of Rev. John Martyn, belonging to 
 Wm. P. Endicott, Esq. of Salem. It is without date or text, the first few leaves 
 being lost. It appears to have been preached on the oeeasion of a special fast, in 
 view of a great drought ; probably in 171!). There is not, of course, anything spe- 
 cifically doctrinal in the sermon, but its sentiments are entirely coincident with 
 those recorded in his study Bible. 
 
 Note G. Page 12. 
 As to the general estimation in which these revivals were held at that time, proba- 
 
24 
 
 bly the call for and result of the meeting of Pastors in Boston, the day after com- 
 mencement at Cambridge, June 1743, referred to by Rev. Mr. Allen, (" centennial 
 discourse," p. 43) are a fair index. The call is not " to bear their testimony and 
 give their advice in relation" to an evil-, but " the late happy revival of religion." 
 And so far as any difference of opinion appears in the results, it was in relation to 
 " itinerancy." This was a separate matter from the revival, though unhappily 
 connected with it. And when Dr. Benjamin Colman of Boston, Mr. Parkman of 
 Westboro', and others refused to sign the " testimony and advice," of the conven- 
 tion — not because it favored the revival, but because it did not use language " suf- 
 ficiently strong" against "itinerancy," or. as they define the term, against "min- 
 isters and others introducing themselves into other ministers parishes without their 
 consent," they only ranked themselves, in the history of revivals, with such men 
 as Griffin, Payson, Beecher, Nettlflton, Kirk and others of the present century, 
 who have ever cherished the memory of Whitfield and Edwards as among the 
 most honored instruments of reviving and establishing vital godliness in the Amer- 
 ican churches. 
 
 In a biographical notice of Andrew Elliott, one of those who withheld his name 
 as stated above, it is said of him that " in 1743 he united with many other excel- 
 lent ministers in giving his testimony in favor of the very remarkable revival of re- 
 ligion in this country." The same might be said of Colman, Parkman, and others 
 who also " concurred" with the testimony "for the substance of it" 
 
 A quotation, in the note just referred to, from " Quincy's History of Harvard 
 University," may, we apprehend, from the sectarian bias of that history, lead to a 
 misapprehension, in some minds, of the particular religious faith of Dr. Colman, 
 and through his known influence at that day, to a misapprehnsion of the faith of 
 our fathers generally, one hundred years ago. That Dr. Colman was truly " lib- 
 eral" we doubt not. But whether he was so, in the sense of ■ih.'dt phrase at this 
 day in and about Harvard College, a few facts may serve to snow. 
 
 In 1(599, he with his church in Brattle Square, at its organization, say ; " first of 
 all we approve and subscribe the confession of faith put forth by the Assembly of 
 Divines at Westminister." But perhaps he made " progress" in " liberality." 
 Let us see : a quarter of a century later, he, with President Leverett, who accord- 
 ing to the same author, was next to Dr. Colman in liberality, were examiners of 
 the first Hollis professor of Divinity in Harvard College, 1722. In proof of the 
 "orthodoxy" of this Professor, they received his assent to this same "confession 
 of faith put forth by the assembly of divines at Westminster," and also his assent 
 to " Ames' Medulla Thcologiae," which being interpreted is, as to substance of doc- 
 trine, the " marrow of Calvinism." But Dr. Colman lived another quarter of a 
 century, almost, in which time the light of transatlantic "progress" and "liber- 
 ality" dawned upon the dark land of the Puritans. Still we find, that some fifteen 
 years later, this same Dr. Colman was, according to Dr. Palfrey, (sermon to the 
 church in Brattle Square 1824) apprehensive, lest " Arminianism" should gain 
 ground in New England. But, says President Quincy, " his christian charity bright- 
 ened to the last." Of this we have no doubt. Still we find him on the old found- 
 ations. A volume of sermons lies before me, by Dr. Colman's colleague, Rev. 
 Wm. Cooper. The subject is " Predestination unto life." They are prefaced by 
 Dr. Colman, Dr. Prince, and others, " senior Pastors of the town of Boston" 1740. 
 In this preface they avow their faith in this doctrine "because," say they, " we 
 find it in our Bible. This it is that makes us d lMvlj*mrm«* and Calvinists." 
 
 Of such a faith, as appears by these facts, was Brattle street church one hun- 
 dred years ago, and President Leverett of Harvard college, and Dr. Colman, whom 
 
 f***U4Ai*+vC+»4 
 
25 
 
 President Quincy alledges to have been " the recognized leader of the most liberal 
 party of the province." 
 
 Another fact shows the same state of religious opinions in New England one 
 hundred years ago. The author of the sermons just named, was in 1737 elected 
 to the Presidency of Harvard College ; and he is said to have been "an eminent 
 promoter of the great revival of religion" which occurred in Whitfield's first visit 
 to this country. He himself said that " since the year 1740, more people had 
 sometimes come to him in one week about their souls, than in the preceeding 
 twenty-four years of his ministry. He died 17-13. It ig not probable that Dr. Col- 
 man and Mr. Cooper his colleague, a man so sound and judicious as to command 
 the chair of Harvard College, were at variance in respect to that great revival. 
 Probably both were opposed to " itinerancy." 
 
 These facts may throw some light on the character of the times in which the 
 first minister of Northborough was settled. They show at least what Harvard Col- 
 lege was one hundred years ago, when such men as Cooper were sought to preside 
 over its interests. But by men of the same spirit, one hundred years before Colman 
 and Cooper, was that institution consecrated " Christo et Ecclesiae," to Christ 
 and the Church. 
 
 In respect to the individual position of Mr. Martyn, towards the revivals of that 
 day, no positive evidence appears. If the mere fact of his choosing on his ordain- 
 ing council men who were opposed to the " New Lights" is evidence that he was 
 opposed to them, then we should infer that his church were in favor of them, since 
 they chose on their part, Mr. Hall of Sutton, a man so notedly in favor of Whit- 
 field and Edwards as to command a seat in the council convened by the latter at 
 the time of his difficulties in Northampton. Mr. Hall even practiced " itinerancy." 
 Others, also, chosen on part of the church, " concurred" with the testimony and 
 advice of the " convention" before referred to. The presumption, in respect to 
 Mr. Martyn, is, that he favored these revivals. He at least held the doctrines 
 under the influence of which, by the Spirit of God, they occurred. And if the 
 assumption of the author of the " History of Harvard University" be true, that 
 the high Calvinists were the particular abettors of the New Lights, we should 
 almost suspect Mr. Martyn of being an advocate for " itinerancy ■." 
 
 Note H. Page 12. 
 
 Prof. Palfrey of Cambridge college, says, (Am. Enc.) that " unitarian opinions 
 were extensively adopted in Massachusetts, as early as the middle of the last cen- 
 tury." They were not, of course, known then by their present name. They ap 
 peared here as in England, at first, under the names of Arianism, Socinianism &c. 
 See the same authority. The first minister of Northborough could not have been 
 ignorant of the existence of these "opinions." Only four years after his settle- 
 ment, Dr. Bellamy, in a letter designed to warn those who said there were " no 
 Arians, no Sochiians in the land," gave the alarm from Connecticut of departures 
 from the faith in and about Boston. A little later the Arian work of Emlyn was 
 published by Dr. Mayhew. And about the same time appeared the mutilated edition 
 of the Westminster Catechism. And these developments, at that time, account 
 for the particular cast of many of Mr. Martyn' s remarks which we shall adduce, 
 and give him a definite position towards these various doctrines. 
 
 But the inquiry may arise, why these views no sooner took an embodied form ? 
 They had no systematic existence in this country till about the year 1S16. The 
 marked, progressive developments, after the publication of Emlyu'a Inquiry 1756, 
 
20 
 
 •were, according to Trof. Palfrey, the exclusion of the doctrine of the Trinity from the 
 liturgy of an Episcopal church in Boston, 1785, the appointment of Dr. Ware to 
 the chair of divinity in Harvard University lbOo ; and the publication, in this 
 country, of Belsham's life of Lindsley 1H6. 
 
 The history of the latter half of the last century will suggest to all a sufficient 
 reason for the slow embodied development of these or any other exotic doctrines 
 introduced at such a time. The political state of the colonies engaged all public 
 attention. From the termination of the religious revivals till the adoption of the 
 federal constitution, scarcely a year was free from violent agitations. The old 
 French war began the strife, 1744. Four years later there was a cessation of 
 war, but not for peace. Then came another conflict of arms with the same na- 
 tion. Nor had peace fairly settled upon the land, before " the stamp act " and 
 other measures began the real American Revolution. The strife of arms was but 
 the maintenance of principles already settled. Then followed a period of internal 
 agitation in bringing the states into one. Indeed the latter half of the eighteenth 
 century was, to New England, any thing but a time for the development of theo- 
 logical systems as such ; and yet it was a time exceedingly favorable for the com- 
 ing in of errors in doctrine and in practice. Not only did the doctrines before re- 
 ferred to gain upon individual minds and in some churches, but other errors, 
 and infidelity itself made great inroads. Opposition to evangelical doctrines had 
 been awakened by the revivals. Looser views had been advanced. Such seed 
 was already sown as would develope itself. Tares need no cultivation ; if let 
 alone they will grow whilst the wheat less neglected will perish by their side. So 
 with doctrinal errors and truth in the half century under consideration. The in- 
 tellectual champion and spiritual host of New England, the great Edwards, was 
 dead and there was but one Bellamy in the land. Centinels and watchmen there 
 were "-ood men and true in their hearts. And though we would not condemn 
 them for doing so much politically, and especially to sustain the American Revo- 
 lution, yet Ave fear they did not labor so directly as they should have done, for 
 that moral revolution which alone can make our fallen race freemen in the Lord. 
 The preaching of that day was too abstract. The moral bearings of doctrinal 
 truths were not applied to the conscience. The theories embraced in the cate- 
 chism or such others as individuals might adopt, were made more prominent than 
 the doctrinal facts which they were designed to explain. It is not strange therefore, 
 that £ven while the catechism, containing the great doctrinal truths which have 
 ever been made " the power of God unto salvation," was in such general use, 
 error still came in upon the churches. 
 
 Other causes, too numerous to mention, existed, which fully account for the 
 slow development of systematic errors whilst at the same time the errors them- 
 selves were undermining old foundations. Thus were churches, within half a 
 centurv, and sometimes within a quarter of a century or less, subverted from 
 their original foundations ; and the few remaining members, who held to their 
 original faith, passing oft* the stage by death, a religion which the fathers knew 
 not was adopted by their children. 
 

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